Tying Knots – How to with Captain Bob Jones

Rope and boats mean knots. Whether you are tying up your boat at a dock, tying rode to an anchor or a fender to a stanchion or rail, you need to use a knot. The wrong knot will lead to trouble while the right knot offers security.

According to Riviera’s legendary game fishing skipper Bob Jones, you only really need to know a few basic knots to be able to handle most situations. Here, he described the second of three important knots; the round turn and two half hitches (one knot) and the legendary bowline.

BOWLINE
This is perhaps the most useful knot in boating and, for a beginner, the most bewildering. Its major benefit is that it creates a loop of any size that will not slip and just gets stronger the more tension you put on it. Take the tension off, and it’s easy to undo. So it is not a particularly good knot for a slack loop such as mooring line.

This is the knot that some people describe as the rabbit coming out of its burrow, running around the tree and returning down the burrow.

This knot will not come undone and is virtually impossible to untie while there is tension on the line. Release the tension and the knot will virtually shake loose.

First, make a loop in your line with the loose end passing on top.
Pass the loose end through the loop from underneath.
Then run the loose end around and under the long end of the line and back down through the loop.
Tighten by pulling on the large loop you have created.

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